37-17 Schilling falters, but Sox prevail

The Red Sox rallied for five runs to regain the lead and put the game away, and they beat the Yankees, 11-6. The rain-delayed game evened the series at 1-1, and put the Sox back 13 1/2 games ahead of their division foes.

Yankees starter Mike Mussina (2-3) looked very bad on the mound for the second time in a row. His fastball was sitting in the mid-80s, and his breaking pitches were not as sharp or as accurate as usual. He escaped a lot of early jams, and this game could have been over a lot earlier.

Curt Schilling (5-2) struggled out of the gate, but seemed to be doing fine after five innings, but in the sixth it started to get ugly. Hideki Matsui led off with a single, and Alex Rodriguez drew a walk, the only one off Schilling. Then Jorge Posada homered on a fat pitch to right field. He has just killed us this series. With Curt struggling to control his stuff, Terry Francona went to the bullpen. Javier Lopez gave up one more run before getting out of the inning, and Joel Pineiro gave up the lead in the seventh when Derek Jeter took him deep over the Monster. Thank God for Hideki Okajima (1-0) and Jonathan Papelbon, who were able to come in and stop the bleeding, though we turned out not to need it.

The onus of the loss fell on none other than Scott Proctor (0-3), suggesting some karmic payback for his stunts of the day before. A five run rally which was kept alive by two Jeter errors put the game away. That felt pretty good.

Kevin Youkilis went 0-2, ending his hitting streak, but he walked three times, so I don’t think that means he’ll be slumping any time soon. He’s a true team player, just getting on base any way he can, personal record or not.

The red-hot Dustin Pedroia was moved up to second in the lineup, and went 3-5 with an RBI. I hope he can continue to produce up there. And Coco Crisp, hitting ninth, collected two hits as well.

Mike Lowell finished the day 3-4 with his 11th home run of the year, so he doesn’t seem to be suffering any ill effects from the first game. He’s now up to 45 RBI, tying him with A-Rod for first among all third basemen. That’s what kind of year he’s having, although he will almost surely cool off as the year wears on.

J.D. Drew sat this one out with a strained right hamstring.

Yankee first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz left the game after colliding hard with Mike Lowell. After the game it was reported that he had broken bones in his wrist or forearm, and will miss at least a month and a half.

Watching our bullpen, I still think it could use a little stiffening up. They’ve pitched very well, but beyond Papelbon and Okajima, I don’t know who we can really trust in there. I’d put Donnelly and Snyder next in terms of reliability, then Romero and Pineiro last. If Mike Timlin can come back healthy, adding one more arm ought to do it, whether it’s one of our young guns showing up, or through a deadline trade.